Flyte are the British duo of songwriters Will Taylor and Nicolas Hill, who started creating together in grade school before signing to a major label (Island Records), leaving that for indie labels (Nettwerk), working with producers such as Glyn Johns, and collaborating with the likes of The Staves, Laura Marling, and Madison Cunningham. We talk with them about a lot of the inner workings of their songwriting practice and approach to record making, classic British emotional repression, coping, creative confusion, commodification, and a whole lot more.

Lera Lynn has released 8+ records, written and recorded songs for True Detective (HBO) with T-Bone Burnett and Rosanne Cash (as well as being cast as a character), played Late Night with David Letterman, toured extensively nationally and internationally, and has been praised by NPR, Rolling Stone, Nylon, and other outlets. We go deep with Lera on learning and setting your own boundaries with yourself and with the industry, lived experiences with the impact and bias against women and mothers by the music industry, losing your sense of purpose and finding it again, enjoying yourself, and more.

Yancey Strickler is a writer and entrepreneur that co-founded Kickstarter (and was CEO for 3 years), Metalabel, The Creative Independent, and A-Corp (Artist Corporations). Essentially, each of these ventures exist to equip creative people with capabilities, knowledge, and tools that make them more powerful. We cover the different facets of this at length, especially his concept of, and push to create Artist Corporations, the systemic exploitation of artists, how DSPs trade convenience for meaning and depth, platform boycotts, "winning" in it's purest sense, and a whole lot more.

Josh Radnor is an actor, director, writer, singer/songwriter best known as Ted Mosby from the TV show 'How I Met Your Mother'. In addition to 9 seasons of the hit show, he has written and directed multiple films, appeared on Broadway, released multiple solo records of original music, and has a duo with Australian singer/songwriter Ben Lee. We talk to Josh about giving yourself permission to believe in yourself, checking your internal weather and seasons, ayahuasca, the complications and complexities of fame, undervaluing ease, and a whole lot more.

AJR are a multi-platinum trio of brothers who started busking in NYC in 2005, and have gone on to release 10 records/EPs (mostly independently, with only 1 major label release), rack up 8+ platinum singles (some multi) and 1 platinum record, nominations for Billboard, iHeartRadio, and American Music Awards, and tours selling out places such as Madison Square Garden and the Hollywood Bowl. We talk with Jack and Ryan about vulnerability as strength, being able to laugh at yourself, failing quickly and moving on, staying fresh and agile creatively, connecting on a human granular level, surviving the comment section, and a whole lot more.

Dave Hause's spans 30+ years, from Philly-based punk and hardcore bands (like Paint it Black and The Loved Ones) to his solo career, dozens of records and world-wide touring, and starting his own label with his brother called Blood Harmony Records. We talk with Dave about the blue collar work of a creative career, showing up and doing the work, the role and power of anticipation in a creative career, breathing, and a whole lot more.

Hayes Carll is a Grammy nominated songwriter from Texas, who has appeared on everything from The Tonight Show to Austin City Limits, is championed by The New York Times, Pitchfork and NPR, and has had his songs covered by Kenny Chesney, Lee Ann Womack, Brothers Osborne, Kelly Willis, and the Hard Working Americans. We talk with Hayes about morning routines and self-care on the road, breaking your audience's stereotypes of a former you, journaling, and divesting from outcomes.

Tami Neilson is a New Zealand-based artist who grew up in a family band, before releasing her own music independently - which has garnered acclaimed by Rolling Stone, No Depression, Mojo, and the Guardian, featured duets with Willie Nelson (and tours with him and Dylan), as well as a New Zealand Music Award for Producer of the Year (one of just 3 women to ever win the award, in any category). We have a wide-ranging, and deeply vulnerable conversation about brain injuries and health scares, the astounding resilience of artists, finding your champions, gate keepers, bucking stereotypes, and a whole lot more.

The Mammals (Ruth Ungar and Mike Merenda, who also have a project called Mike & Ruthy) are a band from the Woodstock area with deep roots in the folk scene and traditions of the area, have worked with Arlo Guthrie, and Pete Seeger (amongst others), are critically acclaimed by LA Times, No Depression, NPR, PopMatters, and run the roots music festival called The Hoot. We talk with them about gratitude for the ability to create art and music, having faith in the low moments, being links in the (musical) chain, square dancing, and a whole lot more.

Dan Reeder is a singer-songwriter and painter originally from Louisiana, who has lived in Germany for decades, released critically acclaimed records via John Prine's Oh Boy Records (as one of the first artists signed to the label, at almost 50 years old), and is somewhat of a cult folk-hero. Dan has toured very infrequently over his 20+ year music career, and we talk about why and his feelings about the concept of touring in general, his approach to staying creative musically and in his visual art, the connections he sees between painting and recording songs, we get an inside look at synths that he is currently building, and a whole lot more.

The episode in which we ask the expert all the questions about AI and making music, as it stands today: what can AI actually do? What is it going to be able to do next month? Next year? How do we retain rights? How do you ethically train AI models? Is our work safe? Is it protected? Are musicians done? What about AI bands eating up the streaming money? Drew Thurlow is the former SVP of A&R at Sony Masterworks, Director of Artist Partnerships at Pandora, and part of the A&R/marketing team at Nonesuch Records, and is currently the founder of the Lone Wolves Community - a music business and tech community and think tank, is founder of Opening Ceremony Media where he consults on AI strategy and more to companies such as RocNation, and has a book coming out in 2026 titled, “Machine Music: How AI is Transforming Music's Next Act."

Maia Friedman is a solo singer/songwriter, as well as a member of The Dirty Projectors and Coco. We talk with Maia about the ingrained narrative of climbing the endless ladder, mothering while on the road, balancing the needs and the desires of parenthood and career, the economics of touring, navigating schedules in a dual artist-parent household, and a whole lot more.

Leslie Mendelson is a Grammy nominated songwriter from New York City, a favorite of Jackson Browne and Jakob Dylan, she released her first record on RykoDisc before moving to releasing the past 4+ independently. We talk about self sufficiency in the music industry, learning to record yourself, the lack of female representation in the industry especially on the production/engineering end of the spectrum, the gear buying fallacy, combating perfectionism, and more.

Tammy Rogers is a founding member of Grammy-winning bluegrass band The SteelDrivers, a founding partner of Dead Reckoning (which is credited as being an early champion of 'americana' music), and is also a storied session musician, touring and recording with the likes of Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, The Jayhawks, Buddy Miller, Matraca Berg, Eric Church, Jim Lauderdale, Todd Snider, amongst many others. We talk with Tammy about the importance of the musician's union and collective bargaining, flexibility and rolling with the ups and downs and changes, saying yes to as much as possible early in your career, road versus studio work, collaboration to cover weaknesses, and a whole lot more.

Carissa Potter is an artist, author, podcast host (Bad at Keeping Secrets), one of AdAges 24 Most Inspiring People of 2021, and is the founder of People I've Loved - which is found in over 600 stores globally and featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Martha Stewart Living, Create Magazine, New York Times, Teen Vogue, Real Simple. Carissa has worked with ICA in Boston, BAM/PFA, SFMOMA, De Young Museum, CCA, The Body Shop, Anthropologie, The Color Factory, Urban Outfitters, The Hammer, & Pinterest to name a few. We talk about containing multitudes, social practice, the power of showing up in-person, cultivating through inconvenience, universal basic income and a whole lot more.

Johnnyswim, the duo Amanda Sudano and Abner Ramirez, have been releasing records since 2008, have played The Tonight Show (Leno edition), and the Late Late Show, NPR's Tiny Desk and All Things Considered, their song is the theme to Fixer Upper on HGTV, they've had two TV series chronicling their life (Home on the Road, and The Johnnyswim Show, both on Magnolia Network), they've written and published a book titled "Home Sweet Road: Finding Love, Making Music, and Building a Life One City at a Time", and are currently working on a new creative outlet that we discuss here. We talk with Amanda and Abner about staying curious in our pursuits, creating space for wonder and childlike-ness, how to rejuvenate yourself and your creativity on the run, the blinders of fixation, and a whole lot more.

Drew Holcomb has released over a dozen records since 2005, independently as well as through Dualtone Records and with Thirty Tigers, on top of popular performances and records with his wife, songwriter Ellie Holcomb, he has toured and written with John Hiatt, Los Lobos, Susan Tedeschi, Avett Brothers, Lori McKenna, Natalie Hemby and others, and he started a subscription record store called Magnolia Record Club which he sold to Dualtone in 2018. We talk to Drew about expensive mistakes both he and Michaela have learned through the years, balancing scheduled creative time and spontaneously chasing the muse, while being gentle with yourself when life gets in the way of it working out, getting clear answers (yes OR no), decision points, considering the audience in the creative process, and a whole lot more.

J Edward Keyes is a journalist with bylines in Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, SPIN, Entertainment Weekly, Village Voice, and who is now the Editorial Director at bandcamp. As an online record store, and music magazine (bandcamp daily), bandcamp is a central hub to the independent music industry (they pay out 82% of their revenue, versus less than 70% at Spotify, et al). We talk with J Edward about sustain, advocating, and growing a vibrant independent music industry and the unique lane bandcamp has carved, "record store" trends, the role of journalism and music advocates, we as the question - do artist's even need a publicist?? And a whole lot more.

Greta Morgan is a founding member of The Hush Sound, touring with Fallout Boy when she was still a teenager, releasing records via Fueled By Ramen, before moving on to being a touring member of Vampire Weekend and performing with Jenny Lewis. After contracting long Covid she developed spasmodic dysphonia - a neurological voice disorder characterized by involuntary spasms of the muscles in the voice box. I.E. it is nearly impossible to sing. After writing nearly 350,000 words in journals, she turned her work into a book - "The Lost Voice" (out now via Harper Collins). We talk with Greta about this life altering change, and it's effects on her creativity and creative practice, our evolving identity coming from self, not from others or our output, the worthiness shadow, acceptance, longevity, and more.

Major Jackson is a poet, author, and professor who is the recipient of fellowships from Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Academy of American Poets, Fine Arts works Center in Provincetown, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, he has been honored by the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, and the Witter Bynner foundation in conjunction with the Library of Congress, awarded the Pushcart Prize, has been published in American Poetry Review, the New Yorker, Paris Review, Orion Magazine, is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and serves as the Poetry Editor of The Harvard Review, and is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities and Director of Creative Writing at Vanderbilt University. We touch on stewardship, curiosity being emblematic of being human, art in a time of upheaval, human expression, AI, art monsters, and a whole lot more.